Peel police identify 97 hate crimes in 2019
Peel Regional Police have identified 97 hate-motivated crimes for 2019, as outlined in the statistics report for hate-based crimes and incidents, which was presented at the May 29 Police Services Board meeting.
The report, which was authored and presented by Det. Feras Ismail, compares the numbers from 2019 against the last three years.
Hate-motivated crimes are described as a criminal offence, whereas hate-motivated incidents are not criminal. Things like discriminatory or hostile speech are classified as noncriminal.
While introducing the report, Ismail said that “hate crimes are the most under-reported crimes of all time.”
Generally speaking, “the number of reported hate-motivated crime offences have fluctuated over the past four years, with a decrease of almost 10 per cent between 2018 and 2019,” read the report.
In 2019, 97 Criminal Code offences were identified as hatemotivated crimes by Peel Regional Police, with 40 of those resulting in charges.
For 2019, crimes motivated by race or nationality increased from 39 crimes in 2017 to 52 in 2019. Crimes motivated by religion remained the same from 2017 to 2019, at 76 incidents. Sexual-orientation-motivated crimes decreased from nine cases in 2018 to six cases in 2019.
Crimes motivated by disabilities have stayed the same from 2018-19, with one reported case. Cases identified as “other” decreased from 25 crimes in 2018 to 12 in 2019.
Out of the total hate-based 97 crimes, 38 were identified as having religion as “either the sole motivator or in combination with another motivator.”